i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this, with hope. i think we're getting somewhere with this fiscal cliff problem. number one, smart conservatives now say the republicans would face hell if they let this country go over the fiscal cliff. just to protect the top 2%.ç better to take the hit now, they argued, than in january with the world economy in turmoil and second recession coming. number two, john boehner, the speaker is claiming he's met obama's demand for higher taxes for the rich. that's good. he agreed in principle the rich must pay more. number three, there's talk for the republican leaders that they could vote to continue the tax cuts for the 98% now and therefore avoid the fiscal cliff and put off for now the top 2%. and the question then, let the debt ceiling not take effect. a tax cut delayed i argue is a tax cut avoided. joining me with the republican defense highly tauted fan of the eagles, ed rendell and alex wagner of msnbc's "now." governor, i want you to read what's going on here. first speaker boehner defended the